1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to the field of clinical communication with patients. More specifically the invention features a system which allows verbal communication by persons wearing respiratory assistance apparatus, the system featuring a user interface and/or an audio output transducer that is easily cleaned and sanitized.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Just in the medical field alone, there are a number of different positive pressure ventilators. Among the most common are C-PAP, Bi-PAP and A-PAP. C-PAP stands for “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure”. This ventilator provides the patient with a constant positive air pressure to keep the patient's airways open and prevent obstruction due to muscle relaxation. Bi-PAP, or “Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure”, deliver two pressure levels instead of one, and which pressure levels are synchronized to assist in the inhalation and exhalation processes. A-PAP is a species of C-PAP apparatus that automatically titrates a patient's pressure.
There are a number of situations in which a person needs to wear a respirator, either of the mask or the full-face variety, in order to be able to breathe adequately and properly. An almost universal problem with such respirators is that it makes normal verbal communication difficult, as the mask portion of the respirator tends to muffle the sound. In addition, a number of such respirators are “active” in the sense that they assist in inhalation and exhalation of air or oxygen, e.g., by means of a pump. The pumped air can make a “whooshing” sound that competes with the patient's speech, thus adding to the difficulty for the listener.
One potential solution to this problem is to introduce electronics, with electrically-powered transducers such as microphones and speakers. There are existing systems for communications with persons wearing respirators and face masks. Two examples include fire-fighting and scuba communication devices which allow persons wearing such equipment to communicate verbally with remote persons. These systems typically involve communication with remote persons through a wireless link or umbilical cable to remote devices. Thus, these systems are not arranged for general listening, but instead require a receiver for each person who wishes to hear the communication. Further, such a system requires a cable connection or some form of radio transmission.
Another related system is the one that physicist Stephen Hawking uses to verbalize with others. But this system is not processing his actual speech, but instead is synthesizing speech based on a non-speech input from him. As such, the “speech” sounds unnatural, and fails to convey the tonal qualities and emotions of the speaker.
Another issue that arises in the health care setting, however, is sterilization. Clinical and medical applications require equipment to be cleaned between uses. Traditional control inputs on medical devices employ knobs, buttons, and switches that inherently possess small openings, overhangs, ridges, and other surfaces that may capture contaminants, and are not easily cleansed. Typical practice requires devices to be either enclosed with a sterile, disposable covering during use, or to be disassembled and hand cleaned by technical specialists. The drawbacks of a sterile cover are that it must possess some type of opening to accommodate electrical leads while maintaining a sterile condition. In addition, the cover material naturally inhibits accurate view of indicators and displays, and the texture and slick nature of transparent cover materials reduces accurate manipulation of control knobs and switches. Manual cleaning and disassembly by skilled technicians adds substantially to the operational cost of equipment, and exposes service personnel to potentially infections disease.
Traditional audio output devices consist of an electromechanical transducer (speaker), inside of an enclosure which possesses an opening through which the sound may propagate. These openings may be covered with a perforated rigid material, a screen, a permeable cloth/textile, or membrane/laminate sheet of sufficiently thin cross section to allow resonation in harmony with the transducer thereby allowing sound to exit the enclosure.
In cases of perforated, screen, or textile coverings, contaminants are permitted to enter the perforations or fabric, thereby creating an unsanitary condition that is not easily cleaned. In cases of the thin membrane covering; while the membrane surface maintains advantageous non-porous properties, the arrangement suffers audio output attenuation, signal degradation, and distortion due to the air gap between the speaker diaphragm and the membrane, as well as from the mechanical properties of the membrane itself which acts as a semi-rigid passive radiator.
This new device addresses both the issues related to control inputs and audio output.